Met boss took £12,000 freebie

The Met Commissioner has accepted up to £12k in luxury hospitality froma spa (Ian Nicholson)

Britain's top policeman has accepted up to £12,000 in luxury hospitality from
one of the country’s leading health spas.

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, and his wife spent
20 nights with full board at Champneys in Tring, Hertfordshire, as he
recuperated from hospital treatment earlier this year.

The revelation is especially embarrassing because the Champneys PR
representative was Neil Wallis, a key suspect in the Met’s phone hacking
inquiry. He was arrested last Thursday.

Wallis, a former deputy editor of the News of the World known as the
“Wolfman”, has also worked for the Met as Stephenson’s PR adviser.

In a statement to The Sunday Times last night after the newspaper challenged
the commissioner about his free stay at the hotel, the Met said the
accommodation and other costs for Stephenson, 57, and his wife, were covered
by the hotel.